A device for automatically controlling the operation of a washroom
appliance such as a water faucet, soap dispenser, shower, urinal, etc.,
comprising means for actuating said appliance, means for deactuating said
appliance, a remote control arranged for emitting a signal, a receiver
arranged for receiving said signal and for generating a maintenance signal
in response to receipt of the signal from the remote control, and means
responsive to the maintenance signal for generating an overruling signal
for disabling said actuation means. The device comprises in a first aspect
of the invention means for intermittently actuating and deactuating said
receiver to reduce the power consumption thereof. In a second aspect, the
invention relates to a device for automatically controlling flow of water
in a wash fountain, including a maintenance function which enable to
deactivate the wash fountain except for at least one valve to permit
supply of water for cleaning the wash fountain.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 08/805,293 filed on Feb. 25,
1997 U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,429 of Karel Carl Van Marcke for "DEVICE FOR
CONTROLLING A SERIES OF WASHROOM APPLIANCES"; which application is based
on and claims priority to European Patent Application No. 96-200513.8
filed Feb. 28, 1996.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A device for automatically controlling flow of water in a wash fountain
through each water nozzle of a series of water nozzles connected to
separate water valves, said device comprising in combination:

(a) each sensor of a series of sensors assigned to one nozzle of said
series of nozzles for sensing the presence of a user in close proximity to
the respective nozzle of said series of nozzles and for generating a
presence signal upon sensing the presence of a user;

(b) a control unit for generating a control signal upon receipt of a
presence signal from one sensor of said series of sensors and for
transmitting said control signal to valve actuation means adapted to open
the water valve of the nozzle assigned to said sensor generating said
presence signal in response to receipt of said control signal;

(c) valve deactuation means for closing the actuated water valve; and

(d) maintenance means comprising means for generating a maintenance signal
and means responsive to said maintenance signal to prevent opening of all
but at least one water valve of said water valves during a predetermined
period of time and for allowing opening of said water valves again after
said predetermined period of time has lapsed.

2. The device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said maintenance means
includes means responsive to said maintenance signal for opening said at
least one water valve within the predetennined period of time and means
for closing said at least one water valve.

3. The device as set forth in claim 2 wherein said closing means closes
said at least one water valve within said predetermined period of time
after a predetermined delay period of time has lapsed.

4. The device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said maintenance means
includes means responsive to said maintenance signal for preventing
opening of said at least one water valve of said series of water valves
within said predetermined period of time and switching means for either
actuating or deactuating said preventing means.

5. The device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said maintenance means
includes means responsive to said maintenance signal for opening said at
least one water valve within the predetermined period of time and means
for closing said at least one water valve, and means responsive to said
maintenance signal for preventing opening of said at least one water valve
of said series of water valves within said predetermined period of time
and switching means for either actuating or deactuating said preventing
means said switching means being adjustable for enabling either said
opening means to open said at least one valve or said preventing means to
prevent opening of said at least one water valve.

6. The device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said maintenance means
includes means responsive to said maintenance signal for preventing
opening of said at least one water valve of said series of water valves
within said predetermined period of time but only after a predetermined
delay period of time has lapsed.

7. The device as set forth in claim 1 including a source of soap, a series
of soap nozzles and each of a series of soap supply valves interconnecting
each soap nozzle of said series of soap nozzles with said source of soap,
means for automatically controlling flow of soap into said wash fountain
from each nozzle of said series of nozzles including means for preventing
opening of each soap supply valve of said soap supply valves during said
predetermined period of time.

8. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said maintenance means include
means responsive to generation of a next maintenance signal within said
predetermined period of time for allowing opening of said series of water
valves before said predetermined period of time has lapsed.

9. A device as set forth in claim 7 wherein said maintenance means include
means responsive to generation of a next maintenance signal within said
predetermined period of time for allowing opening of said series of soap
valves before said predetermined period of time has lapsed.

10. A device as set forth in claims 1 wherein said maintenance means
comprises at least one buzzer and means responsive to said maintenance
signal for actuating the buzzer a first time in response to the
maintenance signal and a second time when opening of said water valves is
again allowed.

11. The device as set forth in claim 2 wherein said maintenance means
includes means responsive to said maintenance signal for preventing
opening of said at least one water valve of said series of water valves
within said predetermined period of time and adjustable switching means
for enabling either said opening means to open said at least one valve or
said preventing means to prevent opening of said at least one water valve.

Description

The present invention relates to a device for automatically controlling the
operation of at least one washroom appliance such as a water faucet, soap
dispenser, shower, urinal, etc., in particular the operation of a flow
control valve of such an appliance, comprising:

at least one sensor provided for sensing the presence of a user in a close
neighbourhood of said appliance and for generating a presence signal upon
sensing said presence

a control unit having an input for receiving said presence signal, which
control unit is provided for generating a control signal on the basis of
the received presence signals and for transmitting said control signal to
means for actuating said appliance;

means for deactuating said appliance;

a remote control arranged for emitting a signal;

a receiver arranged for receiving said signal and for generating a
maintenance signal in response to receipt of said signal from the remote
control; and

means responsive to the maintenance signal for generating an overruling
signal for disabling said actuation means.

Such a device is known from EP-A-0 487 977. This European patent
application discloses a toilet including an automatic flushing system
actuated by an active infrared detection system. The automatic flushing
system can be put out of order by means of a remote control operation
device, in particular when a maintenance person enters the toilet to clean
it. The remote control operation device comprises an infrared transmitter
and a receiver for the infrared rays emitted by the remote control device.
These infrared rays have to be emitted both to initiate and to stop the
cleaning or maintenance function.

In EP-A-0 487 977 the power source for supplying the necessary electrical
power to the automatic flushing device has not been specified. The present
invention is, however, especially directed to automatic control devices
which are powered by means of a low voltage power source, in particular a
battery. In such a case, the longevity of the battery is of great
importance. In this respect, the cleaning function of the known automatic
flushing device has the disadvantage of requiring additional energy, in
particular the receiver for detecting the infrared rays emitted by the
remote control.

An object of a first aspect of the present invention is therefore to
provide a new automatic control device which can be put in a maintenance
or cleaning function by means of a remote control device without making it
impractical to still use a battery as power source.

To this end, the device according to the first aspect of the present
invention is characterised in that said device comprises means for
intermittently actuating and deactuating said receiver to reduce the power
consumption thereof.

In an advantageous embodiment of the device according to the invention the
receiver is actuated at least once per second. In this way, the
intermittent activation of the receiver will not be noticeable at all in
practice for a person operating the remote control but the energy
requirements can be kept to a minimum.

In a second aspect, the present invention also relates to a device for
automatically controlling flow of water in a wash fountain through a
series of water nozzles connected to separate water supply valves, in
particular a device according to the above described first aspect of the
invention, which device comprises:

a series of sensors assigned to said nozzles, which sensors are provided
for sensing the presence of a user in close neighbourhood to the nozzle
they are assigned to and for generating a presence signal upon sensing
said presence;

a control unit provided for generating a control signal upon receipt of
said presence signal and for transmitting said control signal to valve
actuation means arranged to open the water valve of said corresponding
nozzle in response to receipt of said control signal; and

valve deactuation means for closing said water valve again.

Such a device is known from EP-A-0 574 372 and is used as system for
automatically controlling i.a. water valves and soap valves in a wash
fountain. The wash fountain may contain either one common water valve or
several water valves, one for each water nozzle. In the latter case, a
number of passive infrared sensors are provided for detecting the presence
of a user near the respective water nozzle of the wash fountain.

A problem arises when the wash fountain has to be cleaned since the device
automatically detects the presence of the maintenance person and therefore
activates the water and soap nozzles, which is not desired at that moment.
The person therefore has to deactivate the device for example by removing
the battery or switching off the mains from the device or by closing for
example the main water and/or soap supply. This operation is relatively
cumbersome, since the battery and the water and/or soap supply are
normally well concealed to prevent vandalism and consequently not easily
accessible. Moreover, closing the water supply of one wash fountain might
require to close the water supply of an entire building. Additionally, in
order to reactivate the wash fountain, the person may not forget to
reinstall the battery in the device or to reopen the supply after
maintenance.

Another important drawback is that when deactivating the entire wash
fountain in any of the above described ways, the maintenance person can no
longer take any water to clean the wash fountain and has therefore to
provide the necessary supply of water.

An object of the second aspect of the invention is therefore to provide
means in the device to allow maintenance without requiring a cumbersome
operation such as removing the battery from the device or closing the
water and/or soap supply and which moreover to permit cleaning the wash
fountain without having to provide a supply of cleaning water.

To this end, the device according to the second aspect of the invention is
characterised in that said device further comprises maintenance means
including means for generating a maintenance signal and means responsive
to said maintenance signal for generating an overruling signal for
preventing opening of all but at least one of said water valves during a
predetermined period of time and for allowing opening of said water valves
again after said predetermined period of time has lapsed.

The maintenance signal can be generated for example in response to a signal
emitted by means of a remote control or even more simply in response to a
signal generated by the device itself in particular in response to
depression of a push button. Before starting to maintain the wash
fountain, the maintenance person can simply give the required signal in
response to which the overruling pulse is generated. In this way,
actuation of said wash fountain is prevented during the predetermined
period of time of for example two minutes so that during this period of
time the presence of the persons in the neighbourhood of the device does
not cause flow of water through the wash fountain, at least not through
most of the water nozzles. No cumbersome operation is thus needed for
allowing to clean the wash fountain. After this period of time, the person
does not have to execute any actions, since the activation is
automatically enabled and the device returns automatically to its normal
operating condition.

An important feature of this second aspect of the invention is further that
the maintenance function enables deactuation of less than all of the water
valves and maintains at least one water valve active so that the person
may use the water flowing through this valve to clean the wash fountain.
After this initial phase, all the water valves, i.e. also the water
valve(s) which were not inoperative during the initial phase, may be kept
closed for a second predetermined period of time of, for example 30
seconds, so that the wash fountain can be dried by the maintenance person.
After this second period of time, the device automatically returns to its
normal operating condition since the activation is automatically enabled.

According to a first preferred embodiment of the device according to the
invention, said maintenance means include further means responsive to said
maintenance signal for opening said at least one water valve within said
predetermined period of time and for closing said at least one water valve
again, preferably within said period of time. In this embodiment, the
maintenance person will thus automatically receive water to clean the wash
fountain and will have at the end some time to dry it.

In an alternative embodiment, said maintenance means include further means
responsive to said maintenance signal for preventing opening of said at
least one water valve of said series within said period of time but only
after a predetermined delay period of time has lapsed. Compared to the
previous embodiment, this water valve may not automatically be opened but
only in response to the presence of a person near the respective water
nozzle, in particular the maintenance person who needs water.

According to a second preferred embodiment of the device according to the
invention, said maintenance means include further means responsive to said
maintenance signal for preventing also opening of said at least one water
valve of said series within said period of time and switching means for
either actuating or deactuating these means. By means of these switching
means, a choice can thus be made whether all or only part of the water
valves will be kept closed.

The invention will now be described with reference to the following
figures:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the device of the
present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates the circuit of the remote control of the device of FIG.
1;

FIG. 3 illustrates the signal emitted by the remote control shown in FIG.
2;

FIG. 4 illustrates the circuit of the receiver of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 illustrates the circuitry generating the maintenance signal WASH-INA
in response to receipt of the output signal of the receiver;

FIG. 6 illustrates the circuitry for generating the maintenance signal
WASH-INS by means of the push button of the device itself; and

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating the maintenance function performed by
the control unit of the device illustrated in FIG. 1.

In the following description, an example will be described of a preferred
embodiment of the device according to the invention for controlling the
operation of a series of washroom appliances comprising i.a. five water
valves and five soap valves. It is clear that the device according to the
invention can also be used for controlling the operation of one single
washroom appliance, for example one water valve of a faucet, a shower,
etc., a flush valve of a urinal, toilet, etc., or a soap valve for a soap
dispenser, or for controlling the operation of a series of water valves or
soap valves only. The device according to the invention can further also
be used in soap dispensers, urinals, showers, . . .

Referring to FIG. 1, the device 1 according to the invention includes an
integrated circuit control chip 2. The steps for performing the functions
upon maintenance set forth in the flowchart of FIG. 7 are performed under
control of the control chip 2, more particularly by logic circuitry
contained therein. Other known functions for controlling the operation of
the appliances to which the control chip 2 is connected are also performed
under control of this control chip 2. These known functions are described
in detail in EP-A-0 574 372, corresponding with U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,035,
which is incorporated herein by way of reference.

The control chip 2 comprises several inputs and outputs to which different
components are connected. A first series of sensors 4-A to 4-E, in
particular infrared sensors, is connected to the control chip 2 through
the intermediary of a first series of amplifier/filter circuits 5-A to
5-E, respectively. This first series of infrared sensors 4-A to 4-E is
provided for being positioned beneath corresponding water faucet or
fountain nozzles. Similarly, a second series of infrared sensors 10-A to
10-E is connected to the control chip 2 through the intermediary of a
second series of amplifier/filter circuits 11-A to 11-E, respectively.
This second series of infrared sensors 10-A to 10-E is provided for being
positioned beneath corresponding soap dispensers.

The device 1 comprises further a battery level control circuit 3 connected
to the control chip 2, the functioning and structure of which has also
been described in EP-A-0 574 372. Several outputs of the control chip 2
are connected to the I/O circuits 6, which in turn have outputs connected
to a buzzer 7 and appliances of the device, more particularly actuation
means 8 of an external device such as a hand dryer or towel dispenser, a
series of water valves 9-A to 9-E respectively connected to the water
faucets or fountain nozzles and a series of soap valves 12-A to 12-E
respectively connected to the soap dispensers.

According to the invention, the device comprises further maintenance means.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the maintenance means comprise a remote
control 14, provided for emitting a signal to a receiver 13. The receiver
13 is connected to the control chip 2 via stabilizing circuitry 15
provided for generating, upon receipt of the output signal of the
receiver, a maintenance signal to be supplied to an input of the control
chip 2. The maintenance means further comprise a push button 16 or a
similar switch incorporated in circuitry 17 which is also arranged for
transmitting a maintenance signal to the control chip, in particular via
conduit 18 to a different input of the control chip. The receiver 13 and
the circuitry 15 and 17 are connected to the VDD of the control chip 2
through separate conduits which have not been shown in FIG. 1. By means of
two dip switches, which are also connected to the control chip, namely to
inputs WASHF1 and WASHF0, but which have not been shown, it is possible to
make a selection between the maintenance function either by means of the
remote control 14, by means of the push button 16 or by both of these
possibilities or to deactivate the maintenance function.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a block diagram of a possible
circuit of the remote control 14. This circuit comprises i.a. a push
button 40, an infrared light emitting diode L1, and a red indicator LED
L2. When push button 40 is depressed, the LED L1 transmits a signal for
the receiver consisting of a continuous series of pulses generated through
the intermediary of transistor T1 and a pulse generating circuit including
capacitor Ci, resistors R1 and R2, diode D1 and an inverting Schmitt
trigger IC1. The output signal of this Schmitt trigger controlling the
operation of transistor T1 and thus corresponding to the signal emitted by
LED L1 is illustrated in FIG. 3. This signal consists, for example, of
block pulses having a pulse width of 10 .mu.sec and emitted at a frequency
of 1/120 .mu.sec. Other details of the remote control will not be
described as a person skilled in the art can deduce them from the block
diagram and since it is possible to conceive various different kinds of
other remote controls.

A block diagram of the receiver, which will also be explained only in broad
outline, is illustrated in FIG. 4. The pulsed signals emitted by the
remote control 14 are received by a receiver diode DF and subsequently
filtered and amplified by the different components of the receiver. The
resulting signals control the operation of transistor Q1 which transforms
the signals from high impedance output to low impedance output signals of
the receiver.

An important feature of the first aspect of the invention is that the
receiver 13 is not activated all the time but each time only during a
so-called "window" of for example 3 msec. This can be achieved under
control of the control chip 2 which transmits for example every second an
enabling signal via conduit 19 to receiver 13 to actuate it for 3 msec.,
i.e. for the duration of the enabling pulse. The actual detection of the
maintenance signal, i.e. of the pulses transmitted by the receiver to the
control chip is preferably started only about for example 2 msec. after
having activated the receiver, i.e. after the receiver has come back to an
equilibrium. The actual detection in the control chip 2 is in other words
only carried out for the last third millisecond of the maintenance signal.
Deactivation of the receiver 13 is done in view of reducing the energy
consumption of the device, i.e. for making it practical to use a low power
voltage source such as a battery as power source. Indeed, due to the
different filtering and especially amplifying elements of the receiver, it
would otherwise require too much energy. Control chip 2 and the components
connected thereto and the various water and soap valves 9-A to 9-E and
12-A to 12-E are more particularly for example powered by a battery pack
of about 9 Volts (not shown).

The output signal of the receiver 13 is not directly transmitted to the
control chip but instead via circuitry or electronic components 15 for
stabilizing the signal again on the input of control chip 2. A block
diagram of these components is illustrated in FIG. 5 even as a transistor
T1 providing the enabling signal to the receiver under the control of a
WASHWIND signal generated by the control chip 2. The output WASH-INA of
circuitry 15 corresponds to the above-defined maintenance signal
transmitted to an input of the control chip.

The different components of circuitry 17, which enables to activate the
maintenance function by means of the push button 16, is illustrated in
FIG. 6. Upon depressing button 16, this circuitry 17 produces an output
signal WASH-INS, corresponding also to the above-defined maintenance
signal, starting from the VDD received from the control chip 2.

Both inputs of the control chip 2 for the maintenance signals (WASH-INA and
WASH-INS) generated by means of the receiver 13 and circuitry 15 or by
means of the push button circuitry 17 comprises preferably a Schmitt
trigger producing for example on its output a voltage of 0 volt in case of
an incoming maintenance signal between 0 and 1.5 Volts and a voltage of 5
Volts in case the incoming maintenance signal has a voltage of 3.5 to 5
Volts. For a maintenance signal received from circuitry 17, the
maintenance function of the control chip is activated, i.a. an overruling
signal is generated, upon receipt of the first positive pulse edge whereas
for a maintenance signal received from the receiver 13 and circuitry 15, a
number of for example four positive pulse edges are preferably to be
received before activating the maintenance function.

The operation of the device according to the invention will now be
described including first of all a description of the functions performed
by the device upon detection of the presence of a human body part but this
only in broad outline since a detailed description hereof is already given
in EP-A-0 574 372. Upon presence of a user's hand adjacent to one of the
infrared sensors, for example sensor 4-A, a. presence signal will be
generated by the sensors 4-A and transmitted to the control chip 2,
through the intermediary of the amplifier/filter circuit 5-A. Upon receipt
of the presence signal, the control chip 2 generates a control signal and
transmits this control signal to the water valve 9-A through the
intermediary of the I/O circuits 6. The water valve 9-A, having received
the control signal, will be actuated to supply water to the user. The
other water valves 4-B to 4-E and the soap valves 12-A to 12-E are
actuated in the same manner. In this way, the five sensors 4-A to 4-E
control individual water valves of a wash basin, wash fountain, or the
like in response to movement or presence of a user's hand close to water
valves and the five infrared sensors 10-A to 10-E control individual soap
valves of soap dispensers in response to movement or presence of a user's
hand close to the soap valves. The actuation means 8 are for example
enabled after a predetermined time after one of the water valves has been
activated. Alternatively, an additional sensor is connected to the control
chip 2 for controlling the operation of the actuation means 8.

Before starting to maintain the washroom appliances, the maintenance
person, provided with the remote control 14 generates a signal by means of
the remote control 14. This signal is transmitted to the receiver 13,
which upon receipt of the signal transmits a maintenance signal to the
control chip. When an appropriate maintenance signal is detected by the
control chip, the maintenance function is actuated as explained
hereinabove. Referring now to FIG. 7, the flowchart shows the sequence of
operations and decisions performed by logic elements in control chip 2 to
control the maintenance function.

In order to start the maintenance routine, variable GO WASH is first of all
set to 1. In decision block 20, the value of the variable GO WASH is
tested. If this value is 0, the test is performed again whilst in case the
value is 1, buzzer 7 is activated for one second (operation block 21) to
inform the maintenance person that the maintenance routine has been
started. At the same time, a variable GO OFF is set to 1 (block 22)
causing a reset of all the counters in the control chip and a termination
of all the functions which are activated, i.e. the valves which were open
at the start of the maintenance routine are closed and all of the valves
are prevented from opening, at least by the normal automatic control
functions by sensors 4A-4E and 10A-10E. Interrogator 23 provides a delay
of 1 second, i.e. the duration of the activation of the buzzer 7, and
interrogator 24 provides a further delay of 2 seconds. After this delay,
the GO WASH variable is reset in block 25 to 0.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, there are now two different possible
routines for the maintenance function, which can be selected by a further
dip switch determining the value of variable WASH WAT.

In case WASH WAT is equal to 0, which is tested by interrogator 26, a
maintenance routine is started wherein all the valves and possible other
appliances are kept deactivated for 2 minutes through the intermediary of
decision block 27, unless the GO WASH variable has in the meantime been
set to 1 again, as tested by interrogator 28. In the latter case, or in
case the 2 minute delay has lapsed, the buzzer 7 is activated again, but
now for 3 seconds at a frequency of 4 Hz instead of at a constant level
for 1 second, under control of operation block 29. Interrogator 30
provides for a same delay of 3 seconds and interrogator 31 for an
additional delay or recovery time of 3 seconds, after which the variables
GO OFF and GO WASH are reset to 0 in block 32.

In the second possible routine for the maintenance function, i.e. in case
the variable WASH WAT is equal to 1, one of the water valves 9 is
automatically opened to provide water for cleaning in particular the wash
fountain. In a variant embodiment, it may be possible to open this valve
only upon detection of the presence of a human body part adjacent the
corresponding sensor 4. In a next step, the GO WASH variable is tested in
block 33. If this variable has been set again to 1, by a new detection of
the maintenance signal during the maintenance routine itself, the
maintenance routine is prematurely ended by closing the open water valve
(block 34) and by going directly to operation block 29, by which the
buzzer 7 is activated for 3 seconds. This procedure is carried out for 90
seconds under control of interrogator 35. After this delay period of 90
seconds, the open water valve is closed under control of operation block
36 and the testing of the GO WASH variable is continued by interrogator
37. In case the value of GO WASH is 1, the maintenance routine is
prematurely terminated by going again directly to operation block 29 for
activation the buzzer 7. This procedure is continued for 30 seconds
through the intermediary of interrogator 38. After the delay period of 30
seconds, i.e. after a total period of 2 minutes, the maintenance routine
is thus terminated in case no new maintenance signal has been given within
this period.

From the above description it will be clear that many modifications can be
applied to the embodiment of the maintenance function described with
reference to a control chip provided for controlling a number of different
appliances, including water and soap valves of a wash fountain.

It is for example possible to apply this maintenance feature to a soap
dispenser comprising one single soap valve. In such a case, it is
important to prevent flow of soap out of the dispenser to enable to clean
it. The same goes for one or a series of showers. The maintenance feature
can further be applied to an automatic control system for urinals,
toilets, etc. involving another operation mode, i.e. an actuation of the
flush valves after the user has left instead of upon arrival of the user.
The control device disclosed in EP-A-0 574 372, the description of which
is included herein by way of reference, comprises for example a dip switch
X4 for making a selection between a wash fountain control and a urinal
control.

Further dip switches may be provided for adjusting the different time
delays, etc.

Finally, it will be clear that the detection system does not have to be a
passive infrared or another passive system but that also so-called active
detection systems based on emitted infrared beams, sound waves, etc. can
be used. When use is made of a battery as power source, these detection
systems should however require as less energy as possible, for example by
applying active and passive states.

The remote control may on the contrary require more energy as it is not
continuously used. It can emit, as described, infrared signals or
alternatively ultrasonic or electromagnetic signals. These signals may be
coded so that the maintenance routine can only be initiated by means of a
suitable remote control device.

When use is made of a mechanical switch for initiating the maintenance
routine, special measures may be taken to avoid vandalism or abuse. The
push button may for example be replaced by a magnetically operable switch
as disclosed in US-A-5 313 673.